Being on time for an appointment and keeping my promises unless its something I have no control gets me 99% of the Jobs I get called on. Plus i charge for inspections and consultations. So im getting paid to be on time and my word. My repeats call and say get to me when you can. I still give them a date and time within 48 hours.

Sarge

He said sometime next week to give a date.and time.That's too close to the end of month when this needs to be done. That's a broad range.
This is way I had him give me a quote almost a week ago but he couldn't give an exact day and time but said he would asap. A week later and then another week isnt asap.
I.guess we are not on the same page.

Sarge

Being in business these days is challenging. Anymore, there are times when it gets busy and you can't count on the help that you hire these days, so everything gets pushed back. At the same time, a guy is naturally hesitant to turn work down just in case one of the current project that he already has signed up hits a snag. I'm guessing he didn't hit any snags in time to get to you when you wanted.

And your time means nothing to them..... which I find even more infuriating.

Here you would be lucky to get a contractor to show up in a week to look at a job, much less have you a bid and start. About 9/10 of the ones that show up never give you a bid. They have more work then they want and the price just keeps going up.

Part of the scheduling problem is once the client gets you there they add work . We are busier than one armed paper hangers.

Nearly all competent contractors here are booked into mid summer 26 here. A two to three week heads up for work to be done here will get you nothing but a meth head showing up and not finishing…. Being prepared on the owners end is just as important in todays overcrowded market for skilled workers. It isn’t 1990 anymore…. Sadly!lol

Here you're lucky to get a contractor to call you back if you need anything done. Prairie du Chien WI has a drastic need for skilled trade workers. If you're an electrician, plumber or a carpenter you'd have all the work you'd want while being right on both the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers. Also there is a lot of public land open for hunting granted it's steep around here with the river bluffs but there's thousands of acres.
Also if you're a mechanic and could get your own shop up and going the same goes. I'll also add there is a big demand for someone to open a diesel and big truck and trailer repair in this small city.

So for me that would be a small job, and a ballpark time is really just that. especially if he's a small company any one job can set you back a week or two like the rot I mentioned. things can get busy and I don't know about your carpenter, but this time of year I wake up, get the kids off to daycare with their mom, do paperwork, load the the truck, do material runs, work all day, come home in time to catch the kids going to sleep or supper with them if i'm lucky , then do paperwork until usually 1030-11 but have been at my desk until 1:30 more than I like to admit doing quotes, scheduling, sending off material lists to sales guys for delivery etc.

and when you tell a customer it will be 4-6 weeks for windows and doors to come in, they'll call text or email multiple times starting around 2-3 weeks to see if product is in. times that by about 10-30 customers, plus all the new phone calls emails and texts, your phone doesn't stop, your work day doesn't stop, and customers complain about prices.

Makes me think I should double my price just to get some breathing room and get my life back. Customers can be upset but it's the last generation that pushed for white collar jobs and colleges and now we're seeing the lack of skilled trades.

And it's not that we don't care about customers, that's half of why I do what I do, I love my customers, but contractors are completely run off of our feet and if we're off by a couple weeks, it's really not big deal (unless it's tme sensitive like Sarge's job). Most customers I have are happy to get someone before the snow flies. by June I'm booked up until hunting season.

This is very true Carl. I've looked around for entry level laborer's and it's insane. When I was working around 18 years old (i'm 33) I would work my guts out, take direction, do the best I could even if I fumbled all over the place while learning, showed up on time etc.

Half the kids don't have cars, won't stay off a phone, don't know anything, and I mean anything. a labourer at least needs to know how to read a tape measure. I don't expect him to even be half good with a skill saw but I can't find anyone to hire so I can grow. Most lead carpenters I could hire are either company men or went off to start their own business.

Amen to that.

So for a sliding patio door I charge about 1500 most guys charge around 1000 or a little more for labour so i'm more expensive, not including material and mark up usually 10-20% My material is higher as well because I strip the siding off and flash nails fin the whole 9 yards. I don't do this garbage metal cladding retro fit install.

After taxes that's around 900-1000. After labour for a second guy that costs me about 200+ so down to 700-800. Also have to rent a trailer, disposal fee at dump, Gas, truck maintenance etc. i'll be looking at around 500-600 profit if i'm lucky.

It's better for me to just load a door in my truck with my gear, install it myself and drive away end of day with no trailer fee or wear and tear from it on my truck, no labour cost, no scheduling or a guy not showing up, etc. if I want to actually make money I ether have to hire two guys a lead hand and labourer to get it done and hope they both show up and don't ruin my name, do a good job etc, or just hire a labourer (which is not easy to find) and do it myself but charge even more and a lot of people think I charge too much now. but that results in me not working for low-middle class anymore and just targeting higher end customers that want it done well & done right.

^^^Truer words were never spoken.^^^

My general contracting/ building and remodeling business has been booked on average six months in advance for decades. Yeah, I could hire more guys and maybe get caught up or take on more work but finding decent help is so hard that I no longer even consider that an option.

I always inform potential new customers of the backlog right up front. That way if they don't want to wait we can stop wasting each others time right away. All new customers are referrals from existing customers, I haven't advertised in twenty-plus years. Many of them will wait.

I never give a solid date to start work. If they want to wait I tell them I'll put them on the schedule and that I am currently booked ABOUT six months out.

Newfox makes a good point. When I finally get to someone's job they add work, sometimes a lot of work. Between that and the weather, there's no way you can keep any kind of reliable schedule.

I guess one way would be to hire a bunch of meth heads and illegals and just throw large numbers of them at the various jobs. That would get me caught up and probably solve the issue of repeat and referred customers. Soon I'd have no work at all and wouldn't have to worry about scheduling! LOL